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More Transformers 4 Details Surface From Hasbro CEO

Well, Michael Bay thinks you do, as he’s back on board for Transformers 4, due out in 2014. Which is good news for Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner, whose pupils must have dollar signs permanently etched onto them by now.

Recently, Goldner took to the stand at the recent UBS Best Of Americas 2012 Conference to talk about the upcoming sequel.

Alongside unveiling the new logo image seen above, Goldner commented on the fact that toy sales around the release of Bay’s last Transformers film, Dark of the Moon, had been somewhat less than anticipated. Apparently this is down to the fact that kids have been playing with the same transforming toy robots for years now, so it’s time for a new cast of mechanoids to take the helm.

Yes, while we already knew Transformers 4 wouldn’t retain any of the human cast from the original trilogy, it looks like its CGI characters won’t be returning either. The film will instead tell a new story (one that spends more time in space than the previous instalments), centered around new characters. And it’s all in the aid of toy sales.

Doesn’t that just make you die a little on the inside?

Bay stated the budget for Transformers 4 would likely be $30 million less than “your typical Transformers” film. To put that into context, Transformers: Dark of the Moon‘s budget was $200 million. $170 million is still a pretty huge budget, if you ask me (so no scaling down on the level of Pirates of the Caribbean 4).

“It’s not a reboot, that’s maybe the wrong word. I don’t want to say reboot because then people will think we’re doing a Spider-Man and starting from the beginning. We’re not. We’re taking the story that you’ve seen—the story we’ve told in three movies already—and we’re taking it in a new direction. But we’re leaving those three as the history. It all still counts. I met with the writer before I went off to do Pain and Gain and we talked about a bunch of ideas. We let that simmer for a bit. He’s been thinking about stuff and now we’re getting back together next week to see what we’ve got and to see if it gels.”

Transformers 4 is due for release on June 27, 2014 – but will it take more than a new set of robots to save the heretofore critically panned Transformers series?